Will Mets or Yankees make a run at Justin Verlander in free agency?
Astros starter Justin Verlander had a career-best and major league-leading 1.75 ERA this season. Here he delivers in first inning of Game 1 of World Series on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Credit: AP/Eric Gay
HOUSTON — This week, Justin Verlander is a face of the Astros, their Game 1 starter Friday night against the Phillies in yet another World Series appearance at the end of his remarkable comeback season.
But by next week or the week after, Verlander will be a free agent — if he wants — and reach the open market as a premier option for any franchise that needs or wants a starting pitcher of his pedigree and caliber.
That includes the Mets and Yankees, both of whom have the financial means and roster flexibility to merit such an addition.
Verlander, 39, was 18-4 with a career-best and majors-leading 1.75 ERA this season, his first after missing virtually all of the previous two seasons because of a torn elbow ligament and Tommy John surgery. He is likely to win a third Cy Young Award next month. He has said in the past that he wants to pitch until he is 45.
“I don’t see why not,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “A lot of it depends on your body type, it depends on your desire to win, if you made enough money and . . . also your tolerance of pain. And now that he has another arm, I wouldn’t put anything past Verlander.”
Verlander had an iffy outing in the Astros’ 6-5 loss Friday. Despite retiring his first 10 batters, he gave up five runs in five innings, allowing the Phillies to climb out of an early 5-0 hole and they won it in the 10th on J.T. Realmuto’s homer. Verlander remains winless across eight career starts in the Fall Classic.
A veteran of 17 seasons in the majors, Verlander has been a free agent exactly once — last fall, coming off the injury, when he re-upped with the Astros. He signed a one-year deal for $25 million, with another one year and $25 million for 2023 via a player option that kicked in when he reached 130 innings in the regular season. Verlander can exercise that option and stick with Houston, or he can elect to become a free agent.
He sounded this week as if he is looking forward to the latter. While saying all the right things about focusing on the huge game in front of him — “I’m just trying to be present and part of it,” he said, “I’m not really trying to focus too much on what is ahead” — he did reflect fondly on his new experience early last offseason.
Becoming a free agent is, after all, a treasured right for every player who gets that far. A relative few major-leaguers actually get to have a say in whom they work for. That is part of why, for example, Jacob deGrom intends to opt out of his contract this offseason and become a free agent for the first time at age 34.
“It was interesting,” Verlander said of his go-around last November. “I really did enjoy just talking with some teams and hearing their philosophies and getting to talk about my philosophies with pitching and just talk baseball. I didn’t get the traditional ‘come into the city’ and get all the pizzazz because it was a short time frame.”
Verlander wanted his situation settled by the time he had to accept or decline the Astros’ expiring qualifying offer in mid-November.
“So there wasn’t a lot of time, which made things pretty stressful, to be honest,” he said. “But also, I enjoyed the process. I’m intrigued moving forward. Like I said, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think it’s just a new experience, which that’s how you grow and learn and have fun.”
Let’s emphasize part of that again: He is intrigued about probably being a free agent again.
Among those positioned to woo, bring him to the city and give him all the pizzazz, if they want: the Mets and Yankees.
The big-spending Mets have one starter locked into their 2023 rotation: Max Scherzer (a former Detroit teammate of Verlander’s). Potentially all of deGrom, Chris Bassitt (mutual option), Taijuan Walker (team option) and Carlos Carrasco (team option) could be free agents, so the Mets have plenty of holes to fill.
It’s worth noting, too, that the Mets recently have been at the front of the market for high-end pitchers on short-term, high-dollar contracts. They tried but failed to sign Trevor Bauer two offseasons ago, then successfully added Scherzer for three years and $130 million — a record $43.3 million average annual salary.
The slightly smaller-spending Yankees have a fuller rotation picture, but they easily can make room for Verlander if they want — and almost did last offseason, when they discussed a deal with him. They have Gerrit Cole (a former Houston teammate of Verlander’s), Luis Severino (whose team option is likely to be picked up), Nestor Cortes, Frankie Montas and Domingo German in the fold for next year.
With a Hall of Fame resume and zero indication that he is slowing down, Verlander is hyper-vigilant — much like Scherzer — about taking care of his body, especially at his advanced baseball age. He emphasizes sleep and mobility.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who ran the Tigers when they drafted Verlander in 2004, said he remembers telling a broadcaster about Verlander before he reached the majors. The comparison that came to mind at the time: Nolan Ryan, who pitched for 27 seasons until he was 46.
“So I wouldn’t be surprised,” Dombrowski said, “if Justin pitched for a while yet.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
